166 GROUNDS OF LORD RAGLAN'S DECISION.
chap. Raglan would best have supported the French by
' acting upon his own military opinion, still there-
fore pursuing the course which Pelissier, as well
as himself, had — until the last evening — chosen,
and accordingly expending some two or three
hours in the preliminary task of bombardment,
with a mind to assault, when the batteries of
the Eedan should be quelled ; but Lord Eaglan
well knew that nothing short of conformity
with Pedissier's new plan — that is, an advance of
British infantry — an advance not delayed by first
making use of the siege-guns — would pass with
the French as affording the loyal support they
expected. Sir George Brown and the commander
of our Engineers were united in the opinion that
our troops should at once move forward. 'Of
'this,' wrote Lord Eaglan, 'I am quite certain,
' that, if the troops had remained in our trenches
' the French would have attributed their non-
' success to our refusal to participate in the ope-
•' ration.'*
It is easy enough to find fault with the painful
decision to which Lord Eaglan was driven ; and
indeed, if left free to determine on grounds
strictly military, he himself would have flatly
condemned it. 13ut no such freedom was his;
and, to judge the question with fairness, a critic
ought to be armed with not only extended know-
ledge, but also an imagination so powerful as to
be able to apprehend the grave consequences of
withholding our infantry at a time when the
- Private letter to Lord Pamhure, 19th June 1855.
